Where Does a Story Start?

Where does the story come from?

How do you find your inspiration and ideas?
These are not easy questions to answer and the process cannot be boiled down into a simple list, but I will attempt to allow you to peek into the window and get a glimpse of the process.

My children both have enjoyed a wonderfully goofy book entitled “Because a little bug went ka choo.” My wife has recited it to them by memory in order to get us through rough patches on long hikes and bike rides.  At some point I decided that it might be fun to write a book of similar inspiration; where one event directly leads to another event which often seems unrelated and crazier than the last.

I settled on the bee and bear characters for their obvious alliteration as well as the fact that in real life their shared love of honey often brings them together.  Now I simply needed to bring them together in an unusual and unexpected way.

Simple.
I started to write.

Quickly I found my rhymes taking the characters in various directions with no clear path leading towards their meeting.  The story would not write itself.  Now, this is where my process gets a bit murky and possibly weird.  I put the story in my brain and simply left it alone to marinate.  When it was ready my subconscious brain would let me know.  Two weeks later the story returned to my consciousness.  I got to work.

Pulling out a 3×5 notecard, I wrote bee on one edge and bear on the opposite edge.  Linking the two I drew a curvy line, each curve was to represent an event in the story that would move the characters towards their inevitable meeting.  I noted the actions at each curve.  These ideas were not already present in my brain, but by allowing weeks to pass, and following the sketch that my subconscious mind had devised the ideas did in fact form.

I now had a framework.

I brainstormed keywords and synonyms related to each action I had picked and then began to devise a list of rhyming words.

I could now begin to write.

This process from notecard map to actually beginning to write occurred over a period of days.  Again as I got stuck, I asked my brain to sort through my thoughts as I went off and did other things.  During these times I make sure to have a notecard and pen handy as a vocabulary or rhyming solution can occur at any moment and I must be prepared to jot it down.

The actual writing took place over a short period of two or three days followed by the slow process of scrutinizing specific words and phrases.  The ending was modified, adjusted, and reworked multiple times until I was satisfied with the final product.  Also during the revisions process, I began to share the story with my wife and mother in order to solicit some outside feedback.  This helps to fill in gaps in the story, which I, as the writer can miss.  The story is so well formed in my head, that certain points that can be confusing to the reader are not noticed by me, as my brain fills in the gaps.  Trusted proofreaders always ask good important questions and allow the story to develop fully.